Despite international pressure, Iran appears to be continuing its march toward getting a nuclear bomb. But Washington can contain and mitigate the consequences of Tehran's nuclear defiance, keeping an abhorrent outcome from becoming a catastrophic one.
User Comments
Why Afghan support Osama bin Laden (OBL)?
This article can't figure out why Taliban would support OBL...two reasons. Afgah Taliban are VERY proud, very dedicated Mulsims, unflinching and uncompromising. They pride themselves on the fact that they have virtually nothing, fear nothing, and will give nothing.
They laugh at the Americans cowardly missile attacks in 1998, that we would not come and fight face to face.
OBL won Afghan loyalty in fighting, providing support to defeat its first superpower, Soviets.
They must protect him and can never disgrace themselves by turning him in.
America needs to fight side by side next to the Afghans like OBL did before we can win their hearts and minds. OBL made a good example, one we need to replicate.
I think Stanley McCrystal is the right man to get the job done,
Ray Draeger
It is futile to try find
It is futile to try find daylight between the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
All this recent talk that we negotiate with the Taliban is from those with short memory or from those who are intellectually dishonest. No one remembers, it seems, that exactly TWO countries, ONLY two countries, recognized the Taliban regime in Kabul during 1995-2001.
Go research why.
And then convince me why negotiating with, and giving up power to Taliban would be different this time.
Noam has a point
A great article that highlights an often ignored aspect of operations in Afghanistan, namely defining who the ultimate enemy is.
In a recent interview on BBC's Hardtalk, Noam Chomsky made an important point that cannot be ignored when considering a strategy for Afghanistan:
"The important question is what do the Afghan people want."
It is short-sighted to think that this question is not as important as determining what the West wants. Insurgencies can only function so long as there is a modicum of support within the general population. By ensuring the needs of the Afghan people are met, we can reduce the power of the Taliban. Unpalatable though may be, this includes determining what the Taliban wants, not necessarily the political entity, but those fighters so willing to lay down their lives for their nationalistic goals.
Divorcing nationalistic drivers from those of religious ones may be difficult, however, it is the only way to drive the necessary wedge between the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, the true enemy in this conflict.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8339487.stm
Great Question: historical answers
Who are the Taliban? That is a good question and the makers of the Rambo movie series, Historians and US administration can best answer that question and even explain that. Hence it is surprising to read about a question here.
Secondly, it is an Afghan war and an Afghan problem - of the Afghans and by the Afghans.
http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/items/view/How_to_Win_Afghanistan
This link may give one a better idea over what it is about. But yes, it is a good question and a very pertinent one at that.